


In the Dark of the Night

by AwkwardGayBean



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crystal Gems, Drama, Love Triangles, Near Death, Pearl/Rose/Greg Drama, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, Rose Quartz comes back??, Steven's Gem gets stolen by a group of gem radicals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-01-29 12:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 12,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21410179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardGayBean/pseuds/AwkwardGayBean
Summary: “Quick!  He’s waking up!” One of them said, and before Steven knew what was happening, claw-like fingers had clamped over his gem and ripped it from his flesh.  Immediately Steven tried to cry out, but couldn’t.  He felt the power draining from his body.  Pain and fatigue coursed through him and fused to create an unbearable agony.  His vision blurred, and an overpowering nausea came over him.  As the last figure slipped out his window, Steven blacked out.
Comments: 27
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

Steven gazed upon the newly completed “Little Homeworld”. The sun was setting slowly, making the masterful work of architecture look even more majestic than normal. Peridot, Lapis and Bismuth all stood with Steven, admiring their work.

“It looks incredible!” Steven exclaimed. “You guys did such an amazing job!”

“Thanks Steven,” Lapis said.

“I should get home, it’s getting late,” he announced, bidding farewell to the gems and taking the warp back to the house.

“Hello, Steven,” Pearl said, with a smile, as Steven warped into the house.

“Hi, Pearl,” he walked over to give her a hug before climbing up to the loft to get ready for bed.

“How’s Little Homeworld coming?” Pearl asked.

“They just finished it today!” Steven told her. “But Amethyst was goofing off and wasn’t paying attention. Peridot dropped an iron beam on her and she got poofed.”

“Oh dear,” Pearl sighed.

“Lapis is keeping her gem over there until she reforms,” Steven added. “So if you don’t see her tonight, that’s why.”

“Okay,” Pearl said, walking over to the door into the gems’ rooms. “Goodnight, Steven.”

“Goodnight, Pearl,” Steven said. Pearl disappeared into her room and Steven turned off the lights. He climbed into bed and immediately fell asleep.

“Get his gem!” Steven heard a whisper through his sleep. Coming into consciousness, he blinked, noticing several shadowy figures gathered at the foot of his bed.

“Quick! He’s waking up!” One of them said, and before Steven knew what was happening, claw-like fingers had clamped over his gem and ripped it from his flesh. Immediately Steven tried to cry out, but couldn’t. He felt the power draining from his body. Pain and fatigue coursed through him and fused to create an unbearable agony. His vision blurred, and an overpowering nausea came over him. As the last figure slipped out his window, Steven blacked out.

~☆~

Garnet opened the door into the house. It was mid-morning, so she expected Steven to be awake by now. As she walked up the steps to the loft, she saw Steven lying there, unconscious, pale, and gemless.

“Pearl!” Garnet shouted, mortified. The cry thundered through the temple, and without delay, Pearl emerged from her room.

“Garnet, what’s wrong?!” Pearl asked, in a panic.

“Steven…” she said, pointing to the seemingly lifeless boy. Pearl ran over, immediately seeing the problem. She ran to the phone.

“Garnet, what’s that number humans dial in an emergency? 611? 977?” Pearl asked.

“I can’t remember! Just go get Greg, fast! We don’t know how long he’s been here like this.” Pearl rushed out the door and down to the beach where Greg’s van was parked. She pounded on the rear doors of the van, in a desperate attempt to get Greg’s attention. The door opened, and a sleepy Greg looked out, rubbing his eyes.

“Pearl? What’s going on?” Greg asked, groggily.

“It’s Steven, he…” Pearl started.

“His gem was stolen!” Garnet interrupted, carrying Steven down from the house. “We need you to drive him to the hospital, fast!” Greg snapped out of his daze, a look of dread crossing his face at the sight of his son.

“Oh, no…” he said. “Get him in the back, quick.” Greg jumped into the driver’s seat, the two gems following him into the van. Greg stepped on the gas, a cloud of sand flying into the air as Greg whipped the van around and tore off the beach and onto the road.


	2. Chapter 2

Steven awoke with a bright light in his face, the sounds of beeping medical equipment surrounding him. He couldn’t move. He started to panic, and then, as his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw Dr. Maheswaran.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his voice weak.

“Don’t try to move, Steven,” Dr. Maheswaran said, calmly. “Your gem got stolen last night, and now your human body is suffering all of the superhuman things you did when you had your gem. Quite frankly, you’re lucky to be alive.”

“What do you mean?” Steven started to panic, resulting in a sharp pain in his chest. He winced.

“Relax,” Dr. Maheswaran told him. “Your muscles and internal organs are unbelievably overworked. See, normally, your gem gives you the strength you need to be able to run long distances, fight in battles and lift things much heavier than a normal human. But, since your gem is missing, your human body has taken on all the strain of the activities in which you partook that normal humans wouldn’t ordinarily be able to. Your muscles are extremely worn and fatigued, your heart and lungs are exhausted, and you have some fairly severe spinal damage.”

“What does that mean?” Steven asked.

“It means, for now you are temporarily paralyzed from the neck down and you’ll have to be hospitalized until we get your gem back or otherwise rehabilitate you. That could take months, years even.” A sense of dread came over Steven, the thought of never being able to be a Crystal Gem again terrified him. He’d lose his healing ability, his strength, and worst of all, he would never be able to fuse again. No more Smoky Quartz, Rainbow Quartz, Sunstone, Obsidian… No more Steg, no more Stevonnie. On top of all that, he might be paralyzed in a hospital for  _ years.  _ Nothing good could come of that. Could it?

“Now that you’re awake, you can have visitors. Would you like me to tell them they can come in?”

Steven tried to nod, but when it hurt too much to do so, he settled for a weak, “Yes.” He watched as his family and friends filed into the hospital room. Garnet, Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, and Greg all came in and sat down on the chairs that lined the walls of the room. Steven smiled, feebly. Connie came over and sat next to him, softly resting her hand on his.

“Mom told us everything,” she said. “How do you feel about all this?”

“Scared,” Steven managed. “Where’s Pearl?”

“Back at the temple waiting for Amethyst to reform,” Garnet spoke up. “We all thought it would be better for her to learn everything that happened before bringing her here.”

“As soon as she’s back, we’re gonna start looking for whoever did this to you,” Connie added. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

~☆~

Pearl sat at the house with Amethyst’s gem, waiting. It had probably been about three hours since Greg had called to update her on Steven, and she was getting bored. Finally, the purple stone floated up into the air in a beam of white light. Amethyst’s various forms flashed before her, before she materialized and landed on her feet.

“Hey, Pearl,” Amethyst said. “Where is everyone?”


	3. Chapter 3

The gems all gathered in the living room of the house, trying to figure out how they could catch whoever had stolen Steven’s gem. Greg and Connie had stayed at the hospital to keep Steven company. From what the gems had gathered from Steven in the hospital, there had been four or five shadowy, masked figures that snuck into his room and taken his gem in the middle of the night. They were likely gems themselves, considering the diversity of their sizes and body shapes. But that was all he could recall.

“Garnet, what can you see with your future vision?” Pearl asked.

“I’m not sure,” Garnet said, straining to use her future vision, but unable to because of Ruby’s panicking taking over her mind. “I’m struggling to see past all my emotions. We need to unfuse so I can focus.” In a flash of light, Garnet was gone and a panicked Ruby paced around, tears in her eyes. Sapphire grabbed her by her suit and pulled Ruby to face her.

“Listen. Everything’s going to be okay,” Sapphire assured her, pulling the red gem into a hug and kissing her tears away. “We just need to stay unfused for a while so I can focus.” Ruby nodded. All the other gems stayed dead silent while Sapphire closed her eye and began looking into the future.

“What do you see?” Peridot asked, all of a sudden. Pearl shushed her.

“I see Rose’s fountain,” Sapphire said. “There’s a big group of gems there. The leader looks like a fusion. A Smoky Quartz?” Amethyst gasped. Pearl pulled her into a hug.

“We need to get there and stop whatever’s going on,” Bismuth said. As the seven gems rushed to the warp, Sapphire and Ruby fused back into Garnet. Garnet attempted to set the warp pad to go to Rose’s fountain, but nothing happened.

“Why aren’t we moving?” Peridot asked.

“They must have broken the warp to stop us from getting to them,” Garnet said. She stopped to think for a moment before laying a plan. “Lapis, you can fly Pearl to the fountain. But make sure not to get spotted. You two can fix the warp on the other side to let the rest of us through. Bismuth, you and Peridot go to the forge and start working on some weapon upgrades for everyone. Amethyst, you stand guard here at the temple just in case we get ambushed. I’ll go talk to Connie about guarding Steven at the hospital.” With that, all the gems left to perform their assigned duties.

Garnet arrived at the hospital a few minutes later, walking to Steven’s room. Steven was asleep in his bed. Greg was also asleep, laying with his mouth wide open, across three chairs. Connie, however, was awake. She was sitting next to the bed, studying. When Garnet walked in, she looked up, a bleak smile on her face.

“Hi, Garnet,” she said, quietly, careful not to wake the sleeping Universe men.

“We got a lead on who stole Steven’s gem,” Garnet told her. Immediately, hope filled Connie’s eyes. “There appears to be some sort of gem cult gathering at Rose’s fountain. The warp has been disabled, so I sent Lapis and Pearl to investigate.”

“Do you know why they stole Steven’s gem?” Connie asked.

“Not yet, but we don’t know if Steven is in any further danger, so if you could keep an eye out…”

Before Garnet could finish, Connie had pulled her sword out of the duffel bag at her feet. “You know I will.” Garnet smiled, and without another word left the hospital room, confident in her decision.


	4. Chapter 4

Bismuth opened the doors to the forge, and Peridot was instantly enthralled.

“What is this place?” Peridot asked, wide-eyed.

“Welcome to the forge!” Bismuth introduced her, beaming with pride. “This is  _ my  _ domain!”

“Did you  _ make  _ all this stuff?” Peridot asked, slowly making her way around the room, fawning over the dozens of swords, daggers, spears, shields, armour pieces and various other tools and weapons on display around the forge.

“Sure did,” Bismuth replied. “You’re looking at the head weaponsmith and armourer of the crystal gems!”

“This stuff is amazing!” Peridot used her ability to lift a katana from its sheath, marvelling at its intricately etched design and lethal blade.

“Maybe I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve especially for you,” Bismuth said, walking over to get an ingot and then plunging her fist into the lava that cascaded from the ceiling. “Maybe it’s time we give you an upgrade from that old trash can lid.” Placing the molten metal atop her anvil, she shifted her arm into a hammer and started pounding it into shape. Peridot watched in awe as Bismuth formed a skateboard shape out of the metal. Once it was finished, Bismuth held it up. A green metal board with a yellow star design.

“That is  _ so cool _ !” Peridot shrieked.

“Light-weight, easy to handle, and aerodynamic. So you can travel at high speeds in style!” Bismuth advertised, but there was no doubt that Peridot was already sold on the board. With a smile, Bismuth handed it to the smaller gem, watching her face light up. Peridot hopped on the board, making it levitate. She zipped around the forge, excitedly before landing back at Bismuth’s feet.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she cried, rushing to hug the larger gem around her waist. Bismuth grinned, happy she could bring so much joy to her tiny companion.

“I have something else that I think might be perfect for you,” Bismuth said, prying Peridot off her and going to the other side of the room where a display of weapons was concealed in the wall. From the display, she drew three perfectly formed throwing stars with deadly, acutely-sharpened blades. Peridot stared at the sleek weapons, awestruck and eager to test them. Bismuth saw the enthusiasm in Peridot’s eyes, and showed her to a target on the far wall. Carefully handing the throwing stars over to the green gem, Bismuth stood back to allow Peridot to do her worst to the unsuspecting bullseye ahead of her. Without hesitating, Peridot levitated the three stars into the air, and one by one, launched each of them at incredible speed toward the target with not much more than a flick of her index finger. Each of the stars sliced through the air, the blades penetrating deep into the center of the fibrous target upon contact.

“That was amazing!” Bismuth complimented Peridot.

“Of course it was!” Peridot proclaimed, with confidence. “ _ I’m _ amazing!” Through her boasting, Bismuth could tell that Peridot was secretly proud of what she’d accomplished.

“If you’re satisfied with your upgrades…” Bismuth started.

“Satisfied?” Peridot cut in. “I’m thrilled! These are amazing!”

“I’m glad,” Bismuth said. “Now, let’s get to work on some upgrades for the rest of the gems.”

The two gems worked expertly together well into the night. The two brainstormed ideas for weapons suited to each gem’s ability and then brought their ideas to life. Peridot used her Ferrokinesis to provide Bismuth with materials as she worked and then stored the finished weapons as Bismuth completed them. By the time they were finished, each gem had a new upgrade, which enhanced each of them perfectly so their powers could work at peak effectiveness.

“I think we make a good team, P,” Bismuth remarked, admiring their work.

“I agree,” Peridot replied. She too gazed fondly at their works. Garnet’s glove upgrade featured lenses that fit over her gems. They made her able to harness Ruby’s fire and Sapphire’s ice whenever she needed. Pearl’s spear upgrade was a detachable cannon that improved the power of her lightballs. Amethyst’s whip upgrade improved the strength and versatility of the weapon, making it able to trap foes by wrapping them up with a single strike. It also gave the whip an alternate functionality as a grappling-hook-type tool. Lapis’ upgrade was a pair of gloves that allowed her hydrokinesis to function more intricately for things like lockpicking and bomb defusing. Last but not least, Bismuth had invented for herself some powerful rockets that could be launched out of her hands if she transformed them into cannons. Overall, the two were pleased, and retired back to Little Homeworld for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

One o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock... The hours ticked by as Amethyst and Garnet sat watch on the patio. Four o’clock, five o’clock, six o’clock... Amethyst had dozed off at this point, drool spilling from her open mouth. Garnet still sat, alert and motionless, waiting, just in case. All of a sudden she heard heavy footsteps in the sand on the beach. Silently, Garnet snuck to the railing and peered down. Below, she saw an unsuspecting gem walking towards the steps up to the house. It was large, definitely a fusion. The colour of its skin faded from purple into yellow-orange. It had two gems. One on its back and another over its left eye. One was purple, and the other yellow-orange. Garnet gasped, rushing over to wake Amethyst.  
“Huh? Wha?” Amethyst jerked awake, Garnet shushed her, gesturing to the fusion approaching the steps. Amethyst’s eyes grew wide, staring at the approaching gem, who still hadn’t noticed the two on the patio. “Is that…?” Garnet nodded. She grabbed Amethyst by the hand and pulled them both over the side of the patio, jumping down onto the sand below. The large fusion heard the two land, and rushed back down onto the beach and over to where Garnet and Amethyst had landed...just in time to see the two fuse into Sugilite.  
“Ametrine!” Sugilite thundered, swinging her wrecking ball-esque weapons towards the other fusion. Ametrine dodged the attack, forming a harpoon-type weapon from a whip and a dart gun. She shot the harpoon towards Sugilite, but missed as Sugilite swung her wrecking ball once again, this time clocking Ametrine in the right side of her head. Ametrine stumbled to her left, which allowed Sugilite to hit her once again, this time in the left knee. Ametrine wobbled in an attempt to regain balance, but failed and fell to the ground with a loud thud and a cloud of sand. It didn’t appear that she had any chance of coming back from this. Once the sand cleared, Ametrine saw Sugilite standing over her.  
“Okay, okay! I give up!” she surrendered. Sugilite unfused.  
“Why are you fighting us?” Garnet asked.  
“Do you know her?” Amethyst asked.  
“Yes, Ametrine fought on the side of the Crystal Gems in the Gem War,” Garnet said. “Which means she should be greeting us, not fighting us. Clearly she’s a traitor.”  
“You’re the ones who are traitors! Not me!”  
“What?” Garnet asked.  
“You all betrayed our leader and let her sacrifice herself. That is exactly what we as Crystal Gems were not supposed to do.” Ametrine elaborated. Garnet helped her up out of the sand.  
“I don’t think you understand,” Garnet said. Rose sacrificed herself because she wanted her child to continue her work. Yes, it was hard for us, but we definitely did not betray her.”  
“Now that Steven kid has you brainwashed!” Ametrine drew her harpoon once again, but before she could fire, Amethyst used her spin attack and poofed the already weak fusion.  
“What was that all about?” Amethyst asked.  
“Ametrine was one of the original crystal gems, and one of our best fighters. She’s a permanent fusion like me. Citrine is a homeworld gem, but she defected and helped us fight the Diamonds. The Amethyst is from your Kindergarten, but she was one of the first made. The two of them met in battle, and it was love at first sight so Amethyst defected as well. The day they got corrupted was a very sad one. She used to be quite strong, but now we have a few thousand years of experience on her.”  
“Why was she calling us traitors to the Crystal Gems?” Amethyst asked.  
“It seems like a group of the original Crystal Gems have formed in Rose’s name, but I’m not sure what their plan is.”  
“Don’t you have future vision?”  
“Nothing like this has ever happened before.”


	6. Chapter 6

The sun was just coming over the horizon as Lapis approached the statue. She had been carrying Pearl for miles and miles. Pearl had been guiding her in the right direction over the many hours they had been flying and now their destination was finally in sight. 

“There it is,” Pearl sighed. She could now see the large gathering of gems that crowded the fountain. “Land close to the warp so we don’t get spotted.” Lapis silently landed behind the elevated warp pad. Fortunately for them, the group of gems was heavily fixated on the statue and something going on in front of it. Pearl began work on repairing the old Era 1 tech.

“What are they saying?” Lapis asked, hearing the gems begin a chant that grew continuously louder each time it was repeated.

“I’m not sure,” Pearl replied, only half listening because of her concentration on repairing the warp.

Eventually the chant grew loud enough for Lapis to comprehend, “I will fight in the name of Rose Quartz. I will fight in the name of Rose Quartz!” they chanted. Pearl heard it now, too. She looked at Lapis with a look of concern, before going back to the task at hand.

“Look!” Lapis said, pointing to the statue where a smaller subgroup of gems had collected. It was where everyone’s attention was directed. Pearl looked up and they both watched as the Smoky Quartz leader raised Steven’s gem above his head. As if on cue, Pink Steven formed from the gem. The crowd cheered, and a Cat’s Eye Quartz raised a Rejuvenator behind the oblivious disembodied Steven. The cheers grew louder as Cat’s Eye Quartz brought the Rejuvenator down, slicing through Pink Steven’s physical form. Pearl let out a mortified shriek, but was muffled by Lapis, who had clamped her hand over Pearl’s mouth just in time.

“We can worry about that later,” Lapis said. “Just focus on the warp.

“It’s almost finished,” Pearl told her, still in shock over what she had just witnessed. She shook her head to clear it before asking, “Would you give me a hand by moving these vines out of the way?” Lapis summoned two large water tendrils and used them to heave the plant masses off the warp.

“Is it ready?” she asked.

“It should be,” Pearl replied. “We should get this thing online, the rest of the gems will be waiting.” Within a few minutes, the remaining four gems arrived. Unfortunately for them, the enormous flash of light drew the attention of the gem cult. Without time for greetings or explanation of what Lapis and Pearl had just witnessed, Bismuth and Peridot hastily armed their allies and charged into battle. Peridot flew over the heads of the gems, flicking her throwing stars into the crowd before calling them back and relaunching them. She was poofing gems at a decent pace, but Bismuth was really knocking them out. Her overpowered rockets were destroying two and three combatants at a time. The two kept their opponents at bay while their allies geared up. Before long, the rest of the Crystal Gems were ready and raring to test out their new upgrades. Pearl leapt into the middle of the fight, rapid-firing lightballs from the new cannon attached to her spear. Garnet began firing her gloves into the swarm of gems, one fist burning with an intense flame, the other frozen in ice. The targets suffered some nasty burns and scrapes from shards of ice on top of being super punched at 50 miles an hour. In all the chaos, Amethyst spotted Steven’s gem atop a pedestal near the fountain. She drew Lapis’ attention and the two stealthily developed a plan. Amethyst pulled the crowd of gems away from the fountain with her whip, effectively distracting them and allowing Lapis to swoop in with her new delicate water tendrils that plucked Steven’s gem from the pedestal and cradled it until it reached Lapis’ grasp. Finally, the horde of gems had been diminished to just ten or twelve. Bismuth took out three, effectively poofing and bubbling the gems. Peridot took down another and Pearl wiped out two more. Amethyst’s whip squeezed two into submission, leaving four. They seemed to be the council of leaders for the “Cult of Rose”. The Smoky Quartz stepped forward, with a sinister grin.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

“What do you think  _ you’re  _ doing?” Bismuth countered.

“We are defending the true Crystal Gems,” the Cat’s Eye Quartz replied.

“You are anything but Crystal Gems,” Pearl stepped forward. The smaller two of the four gems retreated. The Aquamarine and Yellow Sapphire appeared to be utilities for the more powerful leader and second-in-command.

“Is that how it is?” the Smoky Quartz laughed. She gave the Cat’s Eye quartz a look and the two began to fuse. The Aquamarine and Yellow Sapphire gave them room, as the two formed into a sickly green mutant.

“Prasiolite…” Garnet gasped, before gesturing to Amethyst and Pearl to fuse and become Alexandrite. Prasiolite stepped forward, its sharp claws swiping at Alexandrite before forming a weapon one could only describe as a circular saw blade on a string. Lurching forward to avoid the attack, Alexandrite tackled Prasiolite to the ground, giving Lapis an opening to slip away with Steven’s reclaimed gem. Of course, the underling gems saw what Lapis was doing and ran after her. Fortunately, Peridot and Bismuth were there to hold them back. Peridot pinned both gems to the ground with her throwing stars and Bismuth knocked them both out with a single rocket blast. Lapis successfully warped away with the gem, and with one last punch that knocked Prasiolite to the ground, Alexandrite unfused and followed Bismuth and Peridot back to the warp. As the beam of light formed to take the gems away, Bismuth shot a rocket into the air, and as soon as the five gems had vanished, the rocket crashed into the warp pad, obliterating it into shards.


	7. Chapter 7

Arriving back at the temple, Pearl noticed Greg’s van pulling up outside.  
“Greg’s here!” Pearl called to the rest of the gems.  
“Perfect timing,” Garnet said. “We need him to get Steven’s gem back to him as quickly as possible.”  
“That might not be as easy as you think,” Lapis said.  
“What do you mean?” Amethyst asked. Pearl’s face flushed as she relived the moment of Pink Steven being slashed by the rejuvenator.  
“They had a rejuvenator,” Pearl started. “Like the one Spinel had.”  
“When Pink Steven reformed out of the gem, they…” Lapis continued, finishing her statement by forming a scythe shape out of water and slicing it through the air. Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth and Peridot winced, shocked by Lapis’ reenactment.  
“Does that mean Pink Diamond is going to form out of this gem?” Bismuth asked, looking at the diamond-shaped pink gemstone that Lapis had laid on the couch once she’d come through the warp.  
“We don’t know,” Pearl said. “But it definitely won’t be the Steven we know.” Greg came through the door, looking tired, but his face lit up when he saw Steven’s gem on the couch.  
“You got it back!” he exclaimed, but was quickly cut off as the gem rose from the couch in a glowing light. Garnet tried to grab it in an attempt to bring it outside, because a diamond reforming within the small beach house was a recipe for disaster. But before she could get to the door, a formed gem floated to the floor, and she was much shorter than they had anticipated.  
“Rose?” Greg questioned, his face pale and his eyes wide.  
“It can’t be,” Pearl gasped, full of questions. Rose opened her eyes and looked around. She saw Greg, then Pearl, then Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot.  
“What? Where am I?” Rose asked. Everyone remained silent, trying to figure out what was happening. “Greg! What happened to our baby?! What happened to your hair?!”  
“It’s been almost seventeen years since our son was born, Rose,” Greg finally spoke. “His gem got stolen and…” Greg trailed off, realizing he had no idea what had happened.  
“And when it reformed outside of Steven’s body, a Cat’s Eye Quartz hit it with a rejuvenator,” Pearl finished. “And now you’re here...somehow…”  
“Wait, where’s my son?” Rose asked. “Is he okay?”  
“Yes,” Garnet told her. “Well, he’s in the hospital because of all the strain on his human body.”  
“Take me to heal him,” Rose demanded, still confused and panicking, but knowing that she needed to help her son. Pearl and Greg took Rose out to the van, telling the other gems that they should stay behind, to be safe. Rose and Pearl jumped into the van with Greg and they drove to the hospital.

~☆~

The three entered Steven’s room, Connie was sitting next to Steven, who was once again, asleep. Connie’s eyes grew wide when she saw Rose, and mixed emotions flooded her. Without a word, in order not to wake Steven, Rose walked over to the side of Steven’s bed opposite Connie. Her eyes welled with tears of happiness at the sight of her son. She allowed the tears to fall from her eyes and drip onto Steven’s cheek. Immediately, colour and life flooded back into the teenage boy, and his eyes fluttered open. The first thing he noticed was how much better he felt, now able to fully move his limbs and he no longer felt weakness or pain. Then he noticed his mother standing next to him.  
“Mom?” he asked. “Am I dead?”  
“No, Steven,” Rose assured him. “You’re alive, and so am I.” Steven looked around, seeing his Dad, Connie and Pearl also around him, in his hospital room.  
“What happened?” Steven asked.  
“Let’s get everyone back to the temple, and we can explain everything to everybody,” Pearl decided.

~☆~

Everyone sat around the living room of the house. Pearl had explained the entire story to everyone, including explaining to Rose that, in his short lifetime, Steven had managed to make up for all the mistakes she had made over thousands of years. Now the room was silent as everyone thought over what should happen next. Finally, Peridot broke the silence.  
“I think I know why Rose is here,” she said.  
“Why?” Pearl and Steven asked, simultaneously.  
“You know how a rejuvenator is supposed to set a gem back to when its physical form was made?” Peridot started. Everyone nodded. “Usually that happens in a kindergarten, but Steven wasn’t made in a kindergarten. Steven was conceived like a human baby. This gem is no longer Pink Diamond’s gem, it belongs to Steven, and when Steven was made, or conceived, the gem was still a physical part of Rose. It didn’t go back to Pink because it isn’t Pink’s gem. It’s Steven’s. So it reset to the beginning of Steven’s life and not Pink’s.  
“That… makes a lot of sense,” Pearl remarked. “Good thinking, Peridot!” Peridot grinned.  
“But what do we do now?” Steven asked. Silence.  
“If I was struck with a rejuvenator, doesn’t that mean you can revive Steven’s memories within me until I turn back into Pink Steven?” Rose asked.  
“In theory, yes,” Pearl told her. “But then there is also the option that you could stay…” Everyone looked around at each other, apprehensive about this choice.  
“Whether you decide for me to stay or not, I promise I’ll make up for everything I’ve done,” Rose said. “I’m sorry for lying and for abandoning everyone when they needed me most. Everything was just getting to be too much, and I needed to escape from it all. I know I did it in a dishonest way, and for that I am truly sorry.”  
“It’s not just us you need to apologize to,” Steven said. “There’s one gem in particular that needs you apology more than any of us.”  
“Are you sure?” Pearl asked. “It might be too much for her.”  
“It needs to be done,” Steven finalized, and so he, Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet took Rose to talk to Spinel.


	8. Chapter 8

As Steven and the gems warped into the Diamonds’ palace, they found themselves face to face with all three diamonds. They all looked just as shocked as Rose.

“Pink?” Blue Diamond asked, trying her hardest not to afflict everyone in the room with tears as a few cascaded down her own cheeks. Rose couldn’t move.

“It’s okay, they’re on our side, now,” Steven assured her.

“You...convinced the diamonds to…?” Rose asked. Steven nodded.

“Would someone please explain to us how Pink is here?” White Diamond demanded. Steven lifted his shirt to display his lack of gem. Blue and Yellow immediately shot accusing glares at White Diamond. “It wasn’t me this time! I swear!”

“It wasn’t her,” Steven confirmed. “It was a Cat’s Eye Quartz. She’s the second in command of a cult that believes that they’re the true crystal gems. They stole my gem to bring Mom back, and here she is!”

“Well, it’s wonderful to see you again, Pink,” Yellow said. “Even if you are still in that form.”

“The reason we came here was actually to talk to Spinel,” Pearl told the diamonds. Rose looked at her with an obvious air of panic.

“It’s _fine_,” Amethyst said. “She already got the murder-y feels out. Almost destroyed the Earth. You know how it is, being abandoned for six-thousand years.” Rose swallowed, guiltily, but didn’t have much time to think before Blue Diamond had disappeared into a room and returned with the much smaller pink gem in question. Spinel’s eyes grew wide at the sight of Rose. She knew, without a doubt, that this was the diamond that had betrayed her all those thousands of years ago. She tried to hold back unavoidable tears and hid behind Blue.

“It’s okay, Spinel,” Steven told her. “She’s here to apologize.” Spinel peered out from behind Blue. Yellow encouraged her to move forward. Rose took a deep breath before confronting Spinel.

“Hello, Spinel,” she said, and then paused, unsure of what to say.

“Maybe start by explaining your thoughts when you left her in the garden,” Steven suggested.

“Well, um…” Rose started. “It was right before I was about to leave for Earth. I was thinking about taking you with me, but then it occurred to me that a war wouldn’t be the place for a Spinel. A battlefield is no place for a jester. I planned to go back for you, but when I decided to fake my shattering, I thought it would be hard for both you and Pearl to keep the secret from the Diamonds, and since you were already in the garden, it made the most sense to leave you out of it and keep Pearl around. I’m truly sorry, Spinel. If I could have it back, I wouldn’t have left you out there on your own.”

“I can’t forgive you,” Spinel said. “But I appreciate the apology.” Rose looked to the floor solemnly.

“Maybe we should head back to the temple,” Steven suggested. Steven and the Gems bid farewell to Spinel and the diamonds and warped back to the house.

“It could have gone a _lot_ worse,” Amethyst said, trying to lighten the mood. “She could have gone all murdery on us again!”

“Not the time,” Garnet told her. Pearl had remained silent the entire time, as she herself was having mixed emotions about Rose’s return. On one hand, she resented Rose for all the lies she had told and all the horrible things she had done, only to leave Steven to clean up her mess. On the other hand, all of Pearl’s old feelings were beginning to resurface. As hard as she tried to force them back down into the pit of her stomach, there was no stopping the emotions from bubbling back up. It made Pearl angry, how she had made so much progress. She was able to begin moving on from Rose, accepting her for the terrible gem she had been, and even managed to start a budding friendship with Greg. Now it seemed like, with every step she took at Rose’s side, her progress over the last several years was regressing. She may as well go back to her old form. She didn’t deserve this new one anymore.

“Pearl, are you okay?” Amethyst asked, noticing the flushed look on Pearl’s face and the evident expression of discomfort and worry.

“Yes, Amethyst, I’m fine,” Pearl lied, not wanting to worry the others with her own personal turmoil. However, she did feel like she needed to express to someone how she felt. So when Steven, Garnet and Amethyst left the house, she invited Rose to take a walk with her on the beach.


	9. Chapter 9

The sun was setting. Brilliant shades of orange and pink coloured the darkening sky. Pearl walked with Rose along the coast, letting the waves lap at both of their bare feet.  
“Isn’t this nice?” Rose asked, taking a deep breath of the salty air.  
“I guess,” Pearl said, focusing on the feeling of the grains of sand that worked their way between her toes. This was going to be difficult. “Rose, I’m having some mixed feelings about all of this.”  
“What do you mean?” Rose asked.  
“It’s really difficult having you here, knowing everything you did,” Pearl started. “Yes, I know you explained yourself and apologized. But that doesn’t fix things. You still left an intergalactic burden on your son, caused by your own wrongdoing.” Rose sighed.  
“I offered to…” Rose began, but Pearl cut her off.  
“And I was just starting to form a healthy companionship with Greg. We were both moving past our conflict over you, but now you’re here, and every feeling I ever had for you is flooding back to me despite my better judgement.”  
“Pearl, I…” Rose said, but didn’t finish her thought. Instead, she did what she did best. The wrong thing. The kind of thing that would have disastrous consequences. She looked Pearl straight in the eye…and kissed her.  
At first, Pearl didn’t know what was happening. She saw Rose moving closer and then suddenly realized what Rose was doing. Her brain was screaming at her not to give into Rose’s advances. Every alarm in her head was blaring not to do this, as it would undo everything that she had been working on up until this point. But the feeling of warmth growing in her chest, and the rush she felt when she looked into Rose’s eyes took over. Before she knew it, Pearl was locked in a heated embrace with Rose, and there was no going back.  
~☆~

Pearl sat on the couch the next morning. All she could hear was her own voice from the night before replaying over and over again.  
“Oh, Rose!” her cry echoed in her head. If only she could take it back. How could she have done such a thing with gem that had hurt everyone she loved? It was that stupid charming way she had. It was like she was manipulating Pearl into trusting her again. Maybe she was. Quite frankly, Pearl wouldn’t put it past her. But now she didn’t think she could look any of the other gems in the eye. Or Steven. Or…. Greg. Tangled up in all her feelings, Pearl hadn’t thought about how her actions would impact Greg. That poor man. As if he didn’t have enough to think about. Pearl sighed, her head in her hands. What was she going to do? Garnet walked into the room.  
“I saw 4 possible futures when you left with Rose last night,” Garnet said. “I wasn’t expecting this one to be the one that played out.” Pearl blushed a deep blue.  
“You saw what happened?” she asked, taken aback.  
“Oh, yes,” Garnet said with a smirk. “Gotta remember to try some of the things you two were doing the next time I unfuse.” She lowered her visor long enough for one of her eyes to wink at Pearl. Pearl flushed, mortified that Garnet had witnessed what had happened between her and Rose the night before. Garnet left without another word, taking the warp to Little Homeworld to meet up with the other gems and devise a plan on how to take down the remaining leaders of the cult. Of course, they all knew that this was a little too personal for Pearl and Steven, so it was okay that they stay out of it.  
Steven was spending the day with Connie, and Rose was out with Greg, catching up on what she had missed. Not with too much detail about Steven’s experiences though, just in case she started to turn back into Pink Steven. Since the decision hadn’t been made on whether Rose was staying or not, her conversion back into Pink Steven couldn’t happen prematurely.  
So, with Steven busy with Connie and Rose out with Greg, Pearl was left to sit alone in the house and dwell on her decisions.


	10. Chapter 10

Steven lay with Connie on the warp pad on the hand of Obsidian carved from the cliffside. They had laid a blanket over the warp and were watching the clouds drift through the air. Several blue and black shirts hung on the line and the refreshing scent of laundry detergent wafted in the cool breeze. The sound of a spin cycle hummed out of the washing machine. It was rather relaxing to the two. Steven took a deep breath.

“What are you thinking about?” Connie asked, unconsciously tracing circles on Steven’s palm.

“I’m just thinking, when it all comes down to it, this decision about my Mom is going to depend on me,” Steven explained. “Everyone else has their opinion, yes. But I’m the one that this most affects. I have to choose between my gem abilities and my own mother.”

“That must be tough…” Connie sympathized. She cuddled into his shoulder, hoping to provide some comfort or reassurance. He turned his head to look her in the eye.

“I’ve always done what was best for everybody, you know? But, right now, that doesn’t matter. It all depends on what _I_ want. I’m not used to that. But whenever I look at how either choice would affect everyone else, I can see it being fine either way. If Mom stays, we could all maybe work out our differences and she could start a life in Little Homeworld. Maybe she and Dad would get back together. But on the other hand, if I chose my powers and gave Mom her memories back, then she would turn back into pink me, everything would go back to normal, and that would also be okay. Do you see my dilemma?”

“I do,” Connie replied. “You’ve always been a selfless person. Even when you were younger, and all the other gems had a personal reason to fight for the Crystal Gems, you just wanted to fight to make everyone else happy and because you knew it was right. You never fought for yourself.”

“Exactly,” Steven affirmed. “Now, how am I supposed to make a decision like this?”

“I don’t know Steven, but I’m here to support you in whatever decision you do make,” Connie assured him.

“Thanks, Connie,” he said, kissing her on the forehead.

“If you talk through the pros and cons of each option, it might help you come to a conclusion faster,” she suggested.

“Maybe,” Steven considered. “If Mom stays, it would be very difficult to adjust. There would be a lot of explaining and apologizing and it could get messy. It might hurt too much. On the other hand, there’s the potential for everyone making up and I will have solved another conflict like I always do. But then again, there’s also the fact that we’ll have to shelter her from aspects of my personality, so she doesn’t accidentally revert back, and I feel like hiding things from Mom is both wrong and hypocritical.”

“I understand,” Connie said.

“The other option would be to allow her to turn back into my gem half and fuse back into 100% Steven Universe. That would eliminate the awkward conversations and avoidance, but also it would feel selfish. It wouldn’t be me to just do that. Doing something for me isn’t me. I can’t end the life of someone else to make myself more powerful. Especially my own mother. That’s the opposite of what I do. Putting things back to the way they were also doesn’t seem right. My whole brand is change. Things being the same just isn’t me either.”

“So, where does that leave you?” Connie asked.

“Exactly where I started,” Steven sighed. “How am I ever going to make this decision?”

“What if there’s a third option?” Connie asked.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know what, exactly. But, usually in situations where there’s an impossible decision between two options, there’s a third option that ends up being the right one,” Connie explained.

“I can’t see what a third option would be,” Steven said. “It’s either Mom, or my gem.”

“Maybe you’re right.” The two sat in silence for several minutes, both deep in thought. It was silent aside from the wind, the waves and their soft breaths. All of a sudden, and seemingly out of nowhere, Steven sat up.

“Connie, I’ve made my decision!” he exclaimed.

“What?” she asked. “What is it?”

“We need to meet with the gems and my dad, right now!”


	11. Chapter 11

Pearl was startled by Steven and Connie warping suddenly into the house. Steven had texted his dad for him and Rose to meet everyone in Little Homeworld. Steven ran over to Pearl.  
“Come with us to Little Homeworld, I made my decision about what happens to Mom!” Steven announced, pulling Pearl over to the warp.  
“What?” Pearl asked, still confused and rather in shock. Before she realized what was happening she was dragged onto the warp pad and they were warping away to Little Homeworld.  
The sudden appearance of Steven, Connie and Pearl caused the five gems to stop their conversation and turn towards the warp pad.  
“I made up my mind about Mom,” Steven announced. “Mom and Dad are on the way.” Within seconds, Greg and Rose had also arrived to meet everyone else. Instantly, the room was hushed, and all eyes turned to Steven.  
“As you all know, I’ve come to a conclusion about Mom,” Steven began. “Of course, all of your opinions matter too, it’s just that I know a lot of this depends on me.” With a deep breath, Steven continued. “I know most of you expect me to want my gem back. That makes sense, it would be hard for me to go back to living without gem powers. But I don’t actually think getting my gem back is what’s best. I also don’t think having Mom around is the best option.”  
“Do you mean…you want to…shatter…her?” Pearl asked, nervously.  
“No, no of course not!” Steven dismissed immediately. “I want, if it’s okay…a baby brother or sister…” The room went silent. Steven looked to Rose and to Greg. Greg looked at Rose, at Pearl and then at Steven.  
“That’s a big request, schtu-ball,” Greg said, scratching the back of his head. “Your mom and I will have to talk this over.”  
“That’s fine,” Steven said. “But it’s what made the most sense to me. I can’t see Mom staying, but I also can’t see making her sacrifice herself again to give me back my powers. What I really want is to be able to mentor someone on how to use the powers for good…and I’ve always wanted a sibling.” The gems smiled. They knew that a new baby would be an excellent compromise for this heart-wrenching dilemma, but of course, if that happened would be up to Rose and Greg. Pearl sat uncomfortably near a corner, not contributing to the conversation. But she knew that she needed so speak up about what had happened, because otherwise Greg wouldn’t know the truth.  
“I have something to say,” Pearl spoke up. “Steven, cover your ears.” Steven obliged, his palms over his ears.  
“Last night, Rose and I went for a walk so I could confront her. Things got a little out of hand and we ended up…sleeping together.” Everyone looked shocked, except Garnet, of course and Peridot, who had no idea what “sleeping together” meant. Lapis leaned over and whispered the meaning to the smaller gem. Her face then changed to look as shocked as everyone else.  
“Rose, I…” Greg said. The two then left to discuss what they would do from there. About Rose’s actions and about Steven’s request for a baby sibling. Once they were gone, Steven uncovered his ears.  
“I heard what you said…” he told Pearl, and blushed. Pearl turned bright blue.  
“Steven, I’m sorry. She…” Pearl started.  
“It’s okay, I get it,” Steven cut her off. “It’s just weird. She’s my mom.”  
“Enough of this soap-opera nonsense,” Garnet cut in. “We were making a plan on how to stop the gem cult.”  
“Right,” Bismuth chimed in.  
“Just to catch everyone up,” Peridot said. “We considered just attacking and poofing them, but we knew there was a better way. So, we decided that we need Rose to explain that it was her decision to become Steven and that the Crystal Gems were meant to protect the Earth, not her.”  
“That sounds good,” Steven said.  
“And once they understand, we can un-bubble the rest of the gems and let Rose and the leader explain to them so then we can all live in peace again,” Amethyst finished.  
“That sounds amazing guys!” Steven told them. “Now we just need to put it into action.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Rose, how could you?” Greg asked her, nearly in tears.  
“Greg, it’s been years,” Rose told him.  
“For me it has,” he told her. “For you it’s been a day! Does our love mean nothing to you?” Rose was at a loss for words. “Now what do we do? I don’t know if I want to have another child with you knowing that you would betray me in a second. But it’s what Steven wants.”  
“So, will we do it?” Rose asked. Greg sighed.  
“Only because it’s what Steven wants,” Greg told her. “I was starting to forgive you, but now, betraying me for Pearl? Without a second thought? Rose, I can’t love you when all you do is wrong.” Rose nodded, accepting her fate.  
~☆~

“So, we’ll leave first thing in the morning,” Garnet finalized. The gems were now ready to confront Smoky Quartz and Cat’s Eye Quartz. Pearl, once she’d gotten the weight of last night’s affair off her chest, mapped out a route that Steven could drive, carrying himself, his parents, Garnet and Bismuth in the Dondai. Pearl would guide Lapis once again, and Amethyst would shapeshift into a helicopter and carry Peridot. Of course, they would have to stop for breaks, as it was a long drive for Steven and a long time for Amethyst to stay in a shapeshifted form. Once they confronted the cult leaders, the plan was simple. Amethyst and Pearl would fuse into Opal to overpower Cat’s Eye Quartz, while Garnet and Bismuth took on Smoky. They weren’t aiming to poof either of the gems, but rather restrain them for long enough to allow Lapis and Peridot to get Rose into position and grab their attention. Meanwhile Steven and Greg would be standing by just in case something went terribly wrong. They were a last resort, seeing as two humans would be nearly powerless against the gems they were facing. It was unlikely, however, that it would come to that seeing as, unfused, the quartzes were overpowered 8:3. Whatever happened in the following days, the gems were prepared.  
~☆~

“Dad you sit in front with me, Mom, sit behind me. Garnet, sit in the middle, and Bismuth, sit behind Dad.” Steven hoped that this arrangement would result in the least amount of arguing in the car. Frankly, it probably would have been better to have Peridot in the car than Bismuth, but it would be easier on Amethyst to carry the smaller gem. Steven trusted that Garnet would mediate in any conflict that may break out, but then again, that would run the risk of her unfusing and Ruby catching the car on fire. There was really no good way to execute this, but since the warp had been destroyed, they didn’t have much of a choice. The best Steven could hope for was for everyone to just sit still and be quiet. Steven was already getting a headache and they hadn’t even left yet.  
Getting everyone settled into the car, Steven watched out the windshield as Amethyst shapeshifted into a helicopter and allowed Peridot into her cabin. Steven set up his phone to give him the directions he needed. Pearl, with help from Peridot, had programmed the directions into his GPS app the night before. Giving the gems a thumbs up, he watched Amethyst and Lapis take to the skies before starting the Dondai and beginning down the long road ahead of him.  
The first day of their journey went reasonably well. There were no major disputes, no bad weather and no appearances by Ruby and Sapphire. As the day drew to a close, several hundred miles outside of Beach City, Steven pulled over and unpacked the camping gear he’d packed in the trunk of his car. A little ways into the woods, he pitched a few tents and chose to room with his Dad rather than deal with any gem drama. He crawled into the tent with Greg and allowed the gems to sort themselves out. Unfortunately, there were only 3 other tents, meaning someone had to be stuck with Rose. Amethyst and Garnet snatched one of them relatively quickly, Garnet claiming that they couldn’t take another gem because she was technically two people. Of course, Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth all chose to sleep in another tent seeing as the three had grown close over the last few years. That left Pearl in a tent with Rose. Pearl sighed, climbing into the tent with reluctance, moving to the furthest edge and turning her back on Rose. Rose climbed into the tent behind Pearl, acknowledging her attempt at ignoring her.  
“Don’t act like this Pearl,” Rose said.  
“Don’t talk to me.” Pearl spat back, trying to fall asleep and forget Rose was there.  
“But Pearl, don’t tell me you didn’t have fun the other night,” Rose spoke seductively. “I heard the way you cried my name when you- “  
“Get out!” Pearl shouted. She’d had enough of Rose’s manipulative tricks. She pointed at the door of the tent, demanding Rose leave.  
“But…” Rose started but was cut off by Pearl’s spear aimed at her throat.  
“I said, get out,” Pearl repeated. “Or you finish this trip in a bubble.” Without further discord, Rose silently left the tent to wait out the rest of the night in the open air.


	13. Chapter 13

“Just a few more hours,” Steven scowled. Over the past 45 minutes, Greg had gotten mad at Rose for coming onto Pearl again, and he was no longer willing to give Steven a sibling the old-fashioned way. In all the tension, Garnet had come unfused and now Ruby was frozen in a block of ice in the trunk. Sapphire now sat between Bismuth and Rose, meditating. She focused on the future when all this was over and made sure Ruby didn’t thaw out. Bismuth tried to tune out the arguing between Rose and Greg.  
“We could try in-vitro,” Rose suggested.  
“And how are we going to explain to the clinic that my alien ex-girlfriend and I are perfectly capable of conceiving a child, but we hate each other and are only doing it to appease our son?” Greg countered.  
“Why can’t we just get it over with?” Rose asked.  
“Because it’s not my fault you can’t keep it in your pants around Pearl!” Greg shouted. “What happened, anyway? You never had any interest in her before. What are you trying to achieve?” Before she could respond, Bismuth had smacked her on the head with the hammer she formed out of her left arm and Rose was reduced to a pink gem that fell on the seat.  
“Bismuth!” Steven scolded. He pulled over and got Ruby out of the trunk. After thawing, she and Sapphire fused back into Garnet, who then bubbled Rose’s gem before getting back in the car. Steven texted Peridot and Pearl to tell them they were running a little behind.  
“Hey, Schtu-ball?” Greg asked. “Do you want me to take over driving for a bit?” Steven happily obliged, falling asleep in the back seat on Garnet’s shoulder as they drove.

~☆~

“It looks like we’re almost there,” Pearl said, scanning their surroundings. Lapis sighed with relief. She was getting tired and needed to rest. Of course, once they got to the fountain, she wouldn’t get much rest as they had to combat the quartzes. She wasn’t the only one getting tired. There had been a few times Amethyst had almost lost her helicopter form, nearly dropping her and Peridot hundreds of feet to the ground. That would not have been good. A fall from that high definitely would have poofed both of them and maybe even cracked their gems. Fortunately, Amethyst managed to retake her form before anything devastating could happen. But they couldn’t stop now, it was nearly dusk, and their destination was within reach.  
As they finally reached the fountain, it was getting dark. The airborne gems landed a safe distance away to avoid being seen and met up with Steven, Greg, Garnet and Bismuth.  
“Uhh, so, minor setback,” Greg said, holding up the bubbled Rose. Pearl sighed.  
“Unbubble her,” she said. “She might reform quickly.” Before Garnet could remove the bubble from Rose’s gem, Amethyst collapsed from exhaustion.  
“Amethyst!” Steven exclaimed, concern evident in his tone.  
“It’s fine dude, I just overworked myself. That’s all,” she told him.  
“Can you still fuse?” Pearl asked.  
“I’d just be a burden,” Amethyst told her. Not two minutes later, Lapis collapsed next to Amethyst.  
“You too?!” Pearl cried out. “What will we do?”  
“Pearl, you and I can form Sardonyx and take on Smoky Quartz,” Garnet spoke up. “Bismuth can try to hold off Cat’s Eye on her own, and Peridot can jump in if necessary. It should work. We just need Rose to reform.” Minutes passed, and finally the glowing form of Rose Quartz emerged from the pink diamond. She shot Bismuth a dirty look before seeing the two gems on the ground and looking to Garnet and Pearl with shock.  
“Can you heal them?” Peridot asked Rose, pointing to the heap on the ground that was Amethyst and Lapis.  
“I can only heal cracks in the gem, not the exhaustion of a physical form,” Rose explained.  
“That’s okay, we have a new plan,” Pearl said. Garnet and I will fuse into Sardonyx and take on Smoky while Bismuth handles Cat’s Eye. Peridot will lead you out to get their attention once they’ve been apprehended.” Rose nodded in comprehension. From there, the gems put their plan into action. Pearl, Garnet and Bismuth set off in search of the two quartzes, while Rose and Peridot hung back with Amethyst, Lapis, Steven and Greg. They would make their way out soon. Steven and Greg lifted Lapis and then Amethyst into the Dondai so they would be more comfortable.  
“How are you two feeling?” Greg asked.  
“Eh,” Amethyst responded, with a dazed grin on her face.  
“I feel like the weight of an ocean is on top of me,” Lapis said. “And believe me, I know what that feels like.”  
Bismuth spotted Smoky Quartz over by the shards that once made up the warp pad.  
“There they are,” she whispered to the two other gems. “Looks like they’re trying to build a new warp.” And it appeared that Bismuth was right. As the words left her lips, the three saw Smoky Quartz clearing away the shrapnel and soon Cat’s Eye was walking towards her with some materials to build a new one.  
“When Cat’s Eye leaves again, that’s out time to strike,” Garnet plotted. “If they’re together, they’ll fuse and overpower us.”  
“And we definitely don’t need to deal with Prasiolite again,” Pearl added. After a few minutes of staking out, Cat’s Eye began to walk away to retrieve more supplies. As soon as she was out of earshot, Pearl and Garnet fused and immediately attacked Smoky. Sardonyx’s hammer smashed down onto her, Smoky reacted quickly, forming a shield to block Sardonyx’s attack and then forming a yo-yo. With little effort, she wrapped the yo-yo string around Sardonyx’s hammer and yanked it from her grasp. Now disarmed, Sardonyx froze, unsure of what to do.  
Meanwhile, Bismuth was combating Cat’s Eye, with difficultly. She struggled to avoid the attacks of the lithe gem. Narrowly dodging the swipes of her opponent’s katana-length claws. Bismuth, however, was skilled in her own right, launching rockets at the other gem from her hands. Most of the attacks were easily dodged or deflected, until finally, Bismuth landed a hit. It was enough to knock Cat’s Eye down so Bismuth could get the upper hand. Swiftly, Bismuth managed to restrain Cat’s Eye’s hands, rendering her defenseless. Bismuth hoisted the other gem over her shoulder, carrying her like a sack over to where Sardonyx was fighting Smoky. Bismuth could see Sardonyx’s hammer lying on the ground, several yards away and knew Sardonyx couldn’t do much with out it. Still, she was holding up, and battling the other fusion to the best of her ability. That’s when the Dondai sped towards them, hitting Smoky with such an impact, it sent her flying a few feet. Peridot leapt out, levitating Sardonyx’s hammer back into her hands. With that, Sardonyx wasted no time in bringing the hammer down on Smoky, dealing enough damage to nearly poof the other gem. But, of course, that wasn’t the goal of this fight. Steven drove the Supremo closer to where Smoky lay, and through the windows came a whip and two tendrils of water. The water curled around Smoky, keeping her from moving and the whip snatched Cat’s Eye from Bismuth’s grasp. The two quartzes were now safely restrained, and the rest of the plan was ready to be executed. Sardonyx unfused and Pearl went over to see the still exhausted, but recovering, Amethyst and Lapis using the last ounces of strength left in them to subdue the quartzes.  
“We weren’t gonna let you do this alone,” Amethyst told her, with a wink. With that, Peridot escorted Rose out of the car and into the field of view of the two gems.  
“Rose!” Smoky exclaimed.  
“We are graced by your presence, my diamond,” Cat’s Eye told her.  
“Listen, you two,” Rose began. “Being a Crystal Gem was never about me. It was about keeping the Earth safe. That’s what we did. I chose to give my life to my son, Steven. That was my decision, and anyone who was truly a Crystal Gem accepted that.”  
“But, my diamond,” Smoky started.  
“No,” Rose cut her off. “I chose my destiny because I wanted a son to carry on my legacy. Keeping the Earth safe is the duty of a Crystal Gem, which is what these gems have been doing since I left. If you think otherwise, you are going against my wishes, which is exactly what you don’t want to do.” The two remained silent. “Now, come with us to Little Homeworld and explain that to your army.”


	14. Chapter 14

Steven stood on the patio of his house along with Rose and the five leaders of the gem cult: Smoky Quartz, Cat’s Eye Quartz, Ametrine, Yellow Sapphire and Aquamarine. They all stood, overlooking the gathering of the cult gems that occupied a solid portion of the beach.

“May I please have your attention,” Smoky began. A wave of silence shrouded the many gems. “The council and I have reconciled with the original Crystal Gems. We have spoken to Rose Quartz herself and she has explained her decision to give her life for her son, Steven. In order to call ourselves Crystal Gems, we must respect the wishes of our founder and leader and move forth with our initial goal of defending Earth.”

“The Crystal Gems have established a society of gems here on earth where we can thrive and contribute to human society,” Cat’s Eye Quartz continued. “Please see this as an added benefit of helping and defending the human race.”

“And so, with that, we will end our destructive operations and begin normal lives in Little Homeworld,” Smoky Quartz finished. They all looked down on the army of gems that were gathered on the beach. The reactions were mixed. Most of the gems’ expressions remained neutral while some scowled and others cheered. But as the meeting was dismissed, all of them went to find a new place in the world.

“Good work, guys,” Steven said, congratulating the council on their speech. “I’m glad everyone can come around to do what’s right. As the council gems descended the stairs to also find new places for themselves in Little Homeworld, Steven sighed in relief. He was glad to have ended chaos once again. It was at this moment that Steven felt confident in his decision to not have his gem back. He could help the gems without engaging in combat and he knew that they would be able to handle whatever life threw at them. Plus, he could help his new younger sibling harness his or her powers…assuming his parents put their differences aside long enough to give him that sibling.

~☆~

A few weeks had passed when Greg and Rose got Steven, Connie and the gems to gather at the temple.

“We have an announcement to make,” Greg started.

“I’m pregnant!” Rose exclaimed. Steven ran over to give Greg a hug.

“Thank you!” Steven squealed. Connie grinned at her boyfriend’s excitement.

“Congratulations, Mr. Universe!” Connie exclaimed.

“We need to build a new room onto the temple, and I need to start planning how I’m going to teach them to use their gem powers, and…!”

“Slow down, schtu-ball!” Greg told his over-excited son. “You still have nine months before the baby’s even born, and at least ten years before he or she can start to harness gem abilities. You need to think about what _you’re_ going to do.”

He was right, Steven hadn’t really put much thought into what he was going to do with his life until his new sibling was old enough to train. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know what to do. Up until now, his whole life had depended on being half gem, but now he was fully human and fully powerless, what was there for him to do? Feeling rather defeated, Steven let his shoulders slump. He began walking slowly along the beach, away from his gathered friends and family, in order to ponder his undetermined fate. Connie, of course followed along beside him, in hopes of cheering up her downtrodden boyfriend.

“Why don’t you start a life separate from the crystal gems?” Connie suggested. “I could tutor you so you can catch up on your schooling.”

“Do you think I could?” Steven asked.

“Of course!” Connie replied, enthusiastically. “Of course, you won’t graduate on time with everyone else your age, but it’s at least something.”

“I don’t know, Connie…”

“Think about it. If we aim to get you caught up by the time I graduate, we can both write the SATs and then go to college together!” Steven mulled the idea over in his head with careful thought.

“But won’t it take a little more than two years for me to catch up on thirteen years of missed education?” Steven asked.

“Normally, it would. But you’ve been living with Pearl for most of your life, so I’m sure you’ve learned more than you realize,” Connie told him.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Steven said, still a little apprehensive.

“You won’t regret it, I promise,” Connie told him. “I’ll make up a placement test to get an idea of your grade level and we’ll work from there.”

“Whatever you say…professor,” Steven said, with a sheepish grin. Connie gave him a kiss on the cheek as they continued to walk along the beach in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken so long to update. Once the main plot of the story was complete, I found it hard to tie up the loose ends in a chapter worth publishing, and therefore ended up with major writer's block. The story's basically finished now except for one or two epilogue chapters. I don't expect they will take nearly as long to write as this one. Thank you to everyone who has given such positive feedback. This story is unlike anything I've ever written before, and it's been a bit of a challenge to map out. Thanks for your patience!  
-SapphFiction


	15. Chapter 15

Steven was at Connie’s studying grade 8 science. Connie had determined nine months ago that Steven had been at around a grade six level with his studies and now he was making excellent progress. He was sitting with Connie on her bed and they were each working on their own respective schoolwork. Steven’s phone rang. Pearl was calling.

“Hello?” Steven answered.

“Steven, your Mom is having the baby,” Pearl told him. “You and Connie better get here as fast as you can.” Steven’s mind flashed with all kinds of thoughts. He and his Mom had actually grown rather close over the past nine months. They had chosen to put their differences aside and spend some quality time together as mother and son, so, surprisingly enough, he’d be a little sad to see her go. He also didn’t know what to expect from this experience. He had no idea what happened when a gem gave birth, since he was the only previous example, and he’d never thought to ask.

“Okay, Pearl, we’ll be right there!” Steven exclaimed, hanging up the phone. He looked at Connie, flustered and panicked. He kind of just froze, not knowing what to do.

“What’s wrong, Steven?” Connie asked.

“Mom’s having the baby,” Steven said. Connie dropped what she was doing and grabbed her petrified boyfriend by the arm, dragging him out the door. Within minutes, Connie had summoned Lion and the two rode the furry beast back to Steven’s house. They burst through the door to see Pearl and Greg standing next to Rose, who lay on the couch, in labour. It seemed the process was moving along rather quickly. Steven supposed it was because Rose was a gem or something along those lines. So, by the looks of it, Steven wouldn’t have much time to say goodbye to his mom for the last time.

“How are you, Mom?” he asked, kneeling beside her.

“I’m fine,” she told him, with a solemn smile. “I’ve been through far worse.”

“How long do you think it’ll be?” Steven asked.

“Not long now,” Rose told him. “Steven, I’m so glad I got to meet you, and I’m so proud of the incredible young man you’ve grown up to be. I know you’ll do an excellent job helping your father raise this baby.”

“I’m glad I got to meet you, too, Mom,” Steven responded, his voice breaking, as tears formed in his eyes.

“I love you, Steven,” Rose said, and within seconds, and a flash of light, Rose faded away, leaving behind a crying newborn, which lay in her place. Steven began to sob, finding solace in his father’s arms. Pearl picked up the baby, swaddling it in the blanket they had put aside for the occasion. She brought it over to Steven and Greg.

“Steven,” she said. “Meet your new little sister.”

“I guess we know what we’re calling her,” Greg said, carefully taking his new baby daughter from Pearl. “Welcome to the world, Nora.”

~☆~

“Steven!” Nora shouted, calling to her brother as he and Connie got out of their car. “You’re home!”

“Hi, Nora!” the young man called back. He ran to greet his ten-year-old sister, pulling the small ginger-haired girl into a hug. He and Connie had just returned from their Honeymoon. Nora had been anticipating their return, because Steven had promised that he would start training her to use her gem powers as soon as he got back.

“Can you help me with my powers now?” she asked, excitedly hopping up and down.

“We can try,” Steven told her. “But don’t be too disappointed if you can’t get them to work yet. I couldn’t control them until I was thirteen.”

“Okay,” Nora agreed, but the hope still glinted in her eyes.

“I think I have an idea,” Connie spoke up.

“What? What?” Nora asked eagerly, looking up at her sister-in-law.

“Why don’t you two try fusing?” Connie suggested. “That way you can show Nora what to do.”

“Hmm,” Steven thought it over. He scratched at the stubble on his chin. “I guess we could try.”

“Fuse with me, Steven!” she exclaimed. Nora had seen the gems fuse lots of times, and she’d heard stories of when Steven had her gem and fused with Connie and Greg.

“Okay, but I haven’t done this in a long time,” Steven said, and apprehensively took his little sister’s hand. He twirled her around on the sand of the beach and then lifted her into the air. After a few seconds, Nora’s gem began to glow, and in a flash of light, the two siblings fused into one being.

“It worked!” they exclaimed. The fusion was a little taller than Steven normally was, with dark, wavy, reddish hair. They had Steven’s pink jacket and Nora’s lavender t-shirt and black leggings. At that moment, Greg, Pearl and Amethyst emerged from the house.

“Oh, my stars!” Pearl exclaimed, seeing the fusion the stood on the beach.

“It’s Noraven!” Amethyst exclaimed. The two gems could see Greg tearing up at the sight of his two kids. Pearl patted him on the back.

“Let’s do this!” Noraven shouted. Pink bubbles appeared on both their fists. “Get Garnet! It’s time for some training!”


End file.
